As disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,923,743 (Delfs et al.) and 4,324,920 (McKinnie et al.), it is known that 2-(hydrocarbylthio)phenols are useful as pharmaceutical and agricultural intermediates and that they can be prepared by reacting appropriate phenols with hydrocarbyl disulfides in the presence of aluminum compounds, such as the aluminum phenoxide catalyst of McKinnie et al. Unfortunately, these 2-(hydrocarbylthio)phenol syntheses also lead to the formation of significant quantities of 4-(hydrocarbylthio)phenols as well as small amounts of poly(hydrocarbylthio)phenols. It would be desirable to be able to convert at least a portion of these by-products to the more desirable 2-(hydrocarbylthio)phenols.
In other situations, it is desired to prepare another particular (hydrocarbylthio)phenol, e.g., a 4-(hydrocarbylthio)phenol; by-product (hydrocarbylthio)phenols are formed; and it would be desirable to convert at least a portion of those by-products to the desired (hydrocarbylthio)phenol.